New York Rules Mean It's Tough
To Convict Police in Diallo Case

By

Laurie P. Cohen Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated April 7, 1999 9:01 a.m. ET

NEW YORK -- In what is often thought of as a jaded city, the fatal shooting of an unarmed African immigrant by four white police officers here touched off an extraordinary wave of public condemnation and high-profile civil disobedience.

Last week, the officers pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder for firing 41 shots at Amadou Diallo on Feb. 4 as he stood in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment building. The charges...